Monday, 5 March 2012

Its been a large project, but surprisingly has only taken me 2 weeks to build. I reckon that out of that, only 6 solid days of building have actually been spent doing it. This is encouraging, as all the parts for a second defence laser are sitting under my desk!

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So I've just added a few finishing touches since the post last week. Most noticeably is the railings on the top deck. Originally i was going to use Aegis Defence barriers for this, but they took up to much room. Then i went for Cities of Death building railings, but it didn't look right. Finally i settled on these railings!

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They're made from lengths of wooden BBQ skewer's stuck to cut down CoD Basilica Buttresses.

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I drilled holes at equal intervals in the buttresses so the wooden rod would sit nicely flush into each piece. It was worth the effort, as assembling it was really easy!

A scale shot here with a Vostroyan volunteer. The railings are the prefect height for minis to see over. ﻿

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Where the railings met the main power feeds i decided to use CoD girders, simply because i didn't have enough Basilica buttresses! I sawed off the bottoms at an angle to make them match the angle of the railings.

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Other detailing includes an access hatch to the top deck. I found this on an old Leman Russ accessories sprue.

I've added 2 searchlights to the main deck. They're IG Russ searchlights mounted on the bottom half of a CoD lamp post! This made them high enough to reach over the top of the railings, allowing them to be 'maned'.

Below the searchlights Ive also added some vents and wiring.

Here's some more detail on the bottom deck.

I struggled to jazz up the ramp. In the end i went with the 'less-is-more' approach, which has never failed me in the past! I've added a few CoD bits to the sides and a COG Mechanicum as well. I originally wanted to put wire mesh over the whole ramp, but when i did a mock up it didn't look right. I'll get it painted up and see how it looks.

I added some plasticard pieces to the hardboard base to simulate deck plating. It would take to much plasticard to cover the whole base so this will do!

Finally i added the finishing touches to the gun towers. A few Pegasus pillar tops did the trick nicely!﻿

So, another Apocalypse Terrain project nears completion! A buddy from club said the other day that we're seriously going to have to reconsider the number of tables we use for Apoc'! I'm inclined to agree...

Friday, 2 March 2012

I haven't had much time this week to work on the Defence Laser. Ive been in Birmingham all week training, and with another week of training back in Birmingham next week, I've been working had to make some more progress before i leave again! Setting up a new Dialysis Unit is hard bloody work!!

So whats new? Take a look! The works been progressing well under the watchful gaze of Master Yoda!﻿

The most noticeable work has to be the Laser itself. I didn't manage to find the pluming part i wanted for the main weapon, but i did find a suitable substitute.

I've installed a blast shield in the roof of the weapon dome. I figured that an ancient and powerful weapon like this wouldn't just be sticking up at the sky when not in use!

Weapon detailing was completed quickly, as the pluming parts already had a good bit of detail on them already. The wires were from the main power cable of the doomed Xbox lead that the cats ruined, and the main targeter is obviously from the CoD sets with a large lens stuck on the end. ﻿

The Black cables are from the Xbox power lead while the red t-bits are from the guts of an extension cable, also ruined by the cats! The cat-piss incident turned out OK in the end, as I've now got a huge stock of electrical bits for conversions!

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Another large addition is the main generator power feeds to the main weapon. These were made from a generic Outlet Hose that i got from The Range (a really cheap homeware store) for £1.50/1.5M's! I grabbed 2 which was just enough for my needs.

The hose had to be screwed into the main structure, as glue just wouldn't be strong enough to keep them in place.

As the screws really mucked up the aesthetic of the hose, i had to hide them. For this i used some thick cardboard tube and toilet roll! I needed materials that were already curved to make fitting them around the hose easier.

These are the smaller brackets.

And the larger ones made from toilet roll.

Once in place i added a few rivets cut from plastic rod.﻿

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The main access ramp. I've been waiting for some sets of stairs off eBay for nearly 2 weeks now which were going to lead up to the main access. I got impatient and decided to build a ramp instead!! I had just enough room on the baseboard to make the incline shallow enough to balance models on!﻿

Other details include some large pipe work around the base.

I've also added some supports to the upper platform. These were made from the CoD Basillica buttresses.

The larger sections will form corner posts for the upper deck railings, while the smaller pieces were used to act as the deck supports.

One last bit of detailing was added around the base. As this section is sloped it wouldn't take a pipe section. I raided the bits box and added some industrial looking pieces instead!

Not far off completion now. I'm going to add some smaller pipes around the base, along with a multitude of vents, fans, and rivets to finish it off! I'm hoping for completion next week!